AITAP Minutes

AITAP Meeting Minutes - January 4, 1999 Attending: Keiko Pitter, Walter Froese, Rich Jacks, Ron Urban, Peter Harvey, Rich Hinz, Jenny Miles, Deborah Hopkinson, Susan Healy Topic: AIS implementation overview Keiko reviewed the letter to the trustees that was used to acquire approval for signing the contract. She explained about the two phases of implementation. Phase I goes from now through March and will involve technical training, obtaining the hardware ( hopefully Feb 1), and process mapping. The objective of phase I is to develop the implementation timeline and identify staffing needs. This will be presented to the trustees to get funding for Phase II (the actual implementation). Peter asked how long implementation would take. That depends on the order in which we implement (doing financials first would save time). Walter was concerned about the timing of financials * doing it first would interfere with their preparations for the audit. Issues like this will be determined through the planning process with Datatel consultants. Implementation will take about 2 years in any case. Walter mentioned the chart of accounts. He'll start working on that during Phase I. Susan/Keiko will talk to Linda about getting a consultant from Datatel to assist. Keiko has added an AIS Implementation page to the WCTS web site. The approach document is already there and information will be added as the project progresses. Some of this information will be password-protected. Project Manager * we will be hiring a half-time project manager from Datatel in Phase II. Might be Bill Kelly (formerly of Gonzaga, now with Datatel). Will try to bring the project manager in as a consultant during the implementation planning in Phase I in the interests of continuity. Keiko talked about the three databases that are used to implement Datatel. Test database at Datatel site, used for training. Test database at Whitman, with our test data, for users to work with. Live database * with converted data; when we're ready to go live. Training: user training will take place here, in the WCTS training room. Rich Hinz is getting it set up to hold 10 students. Keiko and John Bogley are trading offices in Mem so that Keiko's office will be next to the former help desk office. Keiko wil l share her Mem office with the project manager. The former help desk will be a one-on-one training room, to be staffed by someone from WCTS. All user services staff (Rich, Bryan and Wes) will be trained on the Datatel software so they can assist users effectively. Deborah asked what people need to do to prepare for implementation planning. We'll talk to Linda about it. People should think about what times of year will be good for implementing. Perhaps Admission/FinAid up by October 1999 and student records for s pring semester 2000. Deborah asked what reporting tool we would use. We're getting TopView by Safari, but almost anything (Word, Excel, Impromptu etc) could be used too. Peter asked what committees there would be and who would be on them. Start with: Implementation Steering Committee. Senior officers or designees. Talk about staffing and budgeting but will not be involved in actual implementation process. Implementation Planning Committee. Probably AITAP members plus others, perhaps. This is the decision committee * make final decisions on shared codes, etc. There will also be a shared codes committee on an on-going basis to decide on address formats etc. Also additional ad-hoc groups for the specific applications, as required. Deborah asked about documentation of procedures and policies. Would extra staff be required? Keiko said WCTS would put policies, decisions, etc. on the WCTS AIS web page. Offices should be documenting their own procedures throughout the mapping process. Peter, on behalf of the trustees, said the board is pleased with the choice of Datatel and the fact that we're moving forward on AIS. But we should take full advantage of this process by doing reengineering and process mapping to identify inefficiencies. We should use this as an opportunity to do more business on the web, use imaging for records, and improve productivity. People should be open-minded about change. Peter asked that we make sure to involve and inform people who aren't on AITAP. Keiko/Susan will meet with people from various offices (student resources, residence life, physical plant, Bon Appetit etc.) to discuss implementation with them.